Nova Terra Interregnum – The Alien Wars

[BadgersinHills]

Wonderful, the detail makes the Rhino feel like a character as opposed to just a box with treads. :) :) 

[Majkhel]

Excellent work! And I really like your idea of giving a base to the Rhino to make it taller. So simple. So effective :)

[Sherrypie]

More tanks need flags on them, dangit. That's prime 40k right there.

[KrautScientist]

That Rhino is absolutely spectacular -- and that's one sentence I'd never say about one of those "metal bawkses". What's more, seeing how you have actually turned an APC into an actual character with this model was probably the reason for my spending the last couple of hours working on one of my old, unpainted Rhinos -- I certainly hope you're proud of yourself.... ;)

[Sandalphon]

No words, I'm reeling in equal parts awe and nostalgia. All those classic details really bring it home to the reason I started this hobby all those years ago - Brings a tear to the eye I tells ya!

[apologist]

Coo, looks like there's a lot of love for the humble Rhino! I haven't replied individually to everyone, but please do know that all your comments are very much appreciated. Nothing quite like a discussion forum to get such well-rounded and thoughtful comments, so thanks again for being so awesome.
 

Classic and modern, detailed and gritty, individual yet cohesive, homage to what I first remember about the painting guide of ‘how to’ paint space marines back in the RT days. GREAT work overall and so impressed with the dedication to this ongoing project, attention to minor things often overlooked, and continued skill at pulling these models out of the past and into the present so vividly and faithfully to their previous incarnations!

Well, thank you very much – since the short-term future involves fimir, zoats, Eldar and more, I hope that the project can live up to that.
 

Fantastic stuff as always, glad to see you are working on the Angels again. I love what you have done with the Rhino, all the extra details such as the flags and the rails on the side really harkens back to that Oldhammer feel you are going for. The base tops it off as well, giving it the height required so it doesn't look out of place amongst the primaris scale marines. I may have to steal that idea off you!

Cheers, Centurion Jay, and please, harvest away – ideas are made for sharing! 
 

Superb work. The subdued colour scheme and weathering really looks like a workhorse vehicle the Blood Angels haul around on campaign with them, and the modern take on the classic details looks fantastic.

Did you do anything to make the rhino bigger? Is it just being on a base that makes it look less out of scale than they usually do? I've been avoiding them with my Death Guard because they look like jerry cans on tracks next to modern plaguemarines. Maybe I should try putting one on a base...

Besides the base, the Rhino is standard. It's surprising what a good framing device can do for a piece – and a base is a perfect (and simple) addition that makes things look considerably more imposing.
 

That Rhino is absolutely spectacular -- and that's one sentence I'd never say about one of those "metal bawkses". What's more, seeing how you have actually turned an APC into an actual character with this model was probably the reason for my spending the last couple of hours working on one of my old, unpainted Rhinos -- I certainly hope you're proud of yourself....

Ha, thanks very much; and right back at you. It's always a pleasure to see how the Eternal Hunt is progressing. :)

Edited September 21, 2020 by apologist

[apologist]

 

Their footsteps were silent – hard vacuum ensured that. 

 

Microvibrations running through the ceramic of the heat shielding gave the Blood Angels a shadowy awareness of each others' locations; and the chirp and ping of auspex returns gave the action an artificial drumbeat.

 

Lazarus tracked down the hull, towards the ingress point of the Fomn craft. It hadn't been designed as such; but meltabombs placed by the scouts had opened up a number of pock-marks in the strange dish-shaped ship.

 

+++

 

Their mag-booting making little of the microgravity, two of the squad advanced on the ceiling above the others' heads. Sergeant Lazarus raised a fist; then issued battle-sign for Brunellecci to advance. The marine darted forward, reaching the circular doorway in two loping strides. Boltguns trained on the door as Brunellecci readied the krak grenade...

 

+++

 

+ Recruitment and progression +

The Blood Angels primarily recruit from the tribes of the Blood – as has ever been, as ever will be. The Nova Terra Interregnum, for all the additional political and practical difficulties that it imposed on Imperial Worlds, made no difference to such traditions.

 

 

+ Pilgrim's Progress: Scout (ca. 14 annum) to battle brother (56 annum) to Veteran (ca. 188 annum) 

 

Indeed, the famed Procurator-historia Markus Manschott, an influential figure in the Segmentum Obscurus Administratum, made a convincing argument that the isolating influence of the M34–36 era was a significant contributing factor to the increasing isolationism and ossification of many Astartes Chapters traditions and modus operandi – the increasing distribution of the Rosarius to Chapters being a later crude attempt at reconciliation.

 

The extent to which Chapters' cults altered during the period is difficult to say with any certainty, but it is clear that practices before and after varied greatly. The Blood Angels – at the time, a relatively open Chapter, willing to communicate with any Imperial world or estate in need – left a number of records regarding alterations in their Cult through the simple expedient of raising subtly different 'Pales' on worlds that they had liberated. These symbolically marked the extent of the Imperium's territory, serving both as totem for the inhabitants and warning to potential invaders that world was under the protection of the Blood Angels.

 

 

At the time, the Chapter typically had three Grand Hosts on deployment. Each consisted of a Battle Company reinforced by elements of the support, veteran and scout companies. One remained on or near Baal as a garrison and resupply force, while the others ranged further afield, responding to threats. The three – later four, as recruitment rates increased – cycled through on an irregular basis; usually between three and six Terran standard years.

 

In extremis, the various Grand Hosts ranging through the galaxy chose to, or were forced to, recruit from local regions. This was a particular mark of honour for the selected inductee; though they suffered from some discrimination within the Chapter.

 

+++

 

The work-in-progress Scout above has infiltrated the picture below. I don't think I'll take him a huge amount further; likely just to add some camouflage to his trousers.

 

 

The model's pretty tiny in comparison with the modern Marines, but I think that's quite fitting, given that he's meant to be a teenager. He's still taller – and considerably bulkier – than my guardsmen, and really helps throw the inhuman scale of the Astartes up.

 

+++

[BadgersinHills]

Looking good! The idea of Astartes deploying teenagers into battle is keeping with the tone of the setting, really like it. :) :) 

[Xin Ceithan]

From the fluff perspective, I think it's fitting and pretty GrimDark to have the Scouts show that child soldier growing into a transhuman killing machine. He is even still showing a bit of baby fat ;)

 

But damn, that is an ugly old sculpt :p

[apologist]

Looking good! The idea of Astartes deploying teenagers into battle is keeping with the tone of the setting, really like it.

 

From the fluff perspective, I think it's fitting and pretty GrimDark to have the Scouts show that child soldier growing into a transhuman killing machine. He is even still showing a bit of baby fat But damn, that is an ugly old sculpt

 

As the opening crawl to Rogue Trader had it: 

'To be a man in such times is to be one amongst untold billions. It is to live the cruellest and most bloody regime imaginable. This is the tale of these times. It is a universe that you can live today if you dare – for this is a dark and terrible era where you will find little comfort of hope.'

I was never quite sure why they took part of that out for the later editions. I thought it was inviting (or at least involving!) in a way the later version wasn't.

 

Anyway, yeah; I always think it's worth reminding ourselves that the Imperium are very much not the good guys...

 

On the sculpt; yeah – I think today it looks relatively crude, but I remember these being previewed in White Dwarf and thinking what a step up in technical skill from the older Scouts these ones were (though being about 9 at the time, I imagine my thought process was more 'cor, they look much cooler than the old crap ones'). They were being done by a new sculptor to the team – though alas my mem-stacks have suffered a partial stem-cascade and I forget who. Anyone?

 

It's odd how tastes in miniatures change. I remember disliking the design of these scouts at the time, and never owned any. Nowadays the weird mohawk/ponytail combo and puffy renaissance sleeves looks so much more 40k to me than the more realistic look of the current Scouts. It's got a punky, dystopian – and, crucially,  weird – look that really drives home the fact that the Imperium of Man is as alien to modern eyes as many of the xenos species. I think these scouts fit the Alien Wars/Nova Terra Interregnum theme of the project nicely.

 

I think the key phrase is 'future history' – since Space Marines owe a lot of their visuals to Mediaeval plate-armoured knights; it makes sense for the scouts to draw from that well a bit, too. :)

[apologist]

+ Squad Castigarius, Third Company 'The Sorrow of Kings; under Lord Dahavauron, Prince of the Erelim, 9rd Strateia of the Host of Angels.' +

 

(Well, half of them at least.)

 

SQUAD MICHELINO 

Sinistro e Dexter:  Brother Titian (Eurabatres 2:34)

Brother Loredan (Eserchie 6:35)

Brother Michelino (Lithargoel 9:19)

Brother Doneto (Kadir-Rahman 1:68)

Brother Picabia (Rahaviel 3:18)

 

+++

 

+ Brother Titian (Eurabatres 2:34) +

 

 

Heavy bolters. Lovely! I think this shot shows the model off best

Edited September 24, 2020 by apologist

[lionofjudah]

Wow... I've been away in backpacking world for a few weeks and come back home to this beautiful bunch of updates

[apologist]

Thanks lionofjudah – lovely to hear on all fronts; hope the backpacking was enjoyable. Lovely to get out and about in nature; and a good walk in the woods is certainly where most of my ideas come to me. Looking forward to the Artemesians and more of Dorn's descendants

 

+++

 

Does anyone else feel a pricking in their thumbs?

 

 

Looks like it's high time for another Anatomy of the Enemy – this time, the dreadful, filthy Fomn!

Edited September 24, 2020 by apologist

[Vazzy]

Yes please hahha! Love the breakdowns and creativity that comes with these articles

[Slave to Darkness]

My friend showed me these on facebook the other day, he was all 'omgthesearethebestretrominisever'... Was gobsmacked when I said I have known you since the Pre Heresy forums were a thing way back when, then I showed him this thread and some of your older stuff. You have another fan now

Edited September 24, 2020 by Slave to Darkness

[apologist]

Yes please hahha! Love the breakdowns and creativity that comes with these articles

 

Cheers! All posted up on the blog, so I'll transload it over here imminently.

 

My friend showed me these on facebook the other day, he was all 'omgthesearethebestretrominisever'... Was gobsmacked when I said I have known you since the Pre Heresy forums were a thing way back when, then I showed him this thread and some of your older stuff. You have another fan now

Ha, that's awesome – and very flattering! Thank you :D

[apologist]

+ Anatomy of the enemy VI: Fomn +

 

 

Of all the miserable xenos I've had the misfortune to encounter, Fomn were the most frustrating. Like fighting fog, the filthy things simply refused to engage. When at last they were forced to coalesce, they came striding down the approach to the bridge, the auto-defences hexed by that horrorwitch. The brutes knocked the armsmen aside in bludgeoning strokes, grabbed Navigatrix Sulo – and, with her still screaming, disappeared into thin air. 

 

Blinded, it took us nearly three years to limp to the nearest port; by which time the Fomn were long gone.

 

Extract from Campaign in the Braccian Reach – Lord Marshal Endun of Battlefleet Solar

 

+++

+ Abstract +

Brutal, ancient and aggressive, the Fomn's hidden empire has been fading for aeons; but stubbornly refuses to die out. Suffused by the immaterium through ritual and sortilege, their worlds and holdfasts are shunned by most sapient species – but their connection to the warp and mysterious relationship to homo navigus makes them a fell and avowed opponent of humanity.

 

+ First contact +

Scratchy and unreliable record fragments, found in datalooms and archaeotech hoards believed to date back to the Dark Age of Technology, offer tantalising hints of species bearing hallmarks of the Fomn. Of course, many thousands of species have been encountered by humans over the millennia, so why should such vague and indistinct records suggest a particular species? 

 

In this case, it is partially the Fomn's distinctiveness – simultaneously familiar enough to the human form to admit ready description, while distinctive enough to be marked out – that makes them recognisable, even from oral history. Their curious cycloptic nature, imposing physique and methods of contact make for easy and vivid description, even in fragmentary or partially corrupted data. 

 

More striking than their physical form, however, is their curious nature; and it is this that dominates all records of the creatures. Their suildluith – variously recounted as 'the evil eye', 'gimlet gaze' or 'warp eye' amongst a thousand other similar descriptors – is the main contributing factor to their long, if intermittent, interaction with humanity; and with their continuing belligerence. 

 

In any case, contact with the Fomn long predates Imperial history – and it may be that contact predates the Dark Age of Technology itself.

 

+++ 

 

+ Fomn biology +

 

Adult warrior Fomn standing between nine and twelve feet from toes to the top of their head, Fomn are rangy, spindly creatures with thick rubbery skin. Skintones usually range from pale orange to pale green on their dorsal sides, while ventral skin is near universally a corpse-pale white-purple. Occasional specimens appear with different colorations, but this is rare. Clusters of darker spots are common on dorsal skin, and on the face and forearms.

 

Along with their pale, hairless bodies, their hands and feet are large and webbed, indicative of a semi-aquatic ancestry; and they favour swampy terrain and worlds with plenty of free water. Fomn are particularly vulnerable to dehydration and heat-based weaponry; and standard doctrine recommends the deployment of melta and promethium-projecting weaponry where possible. 

 

Fomn bear long, sinuous tails. Dependent on caste, some of these end in tufts of a hair-analogue; others in thick skin, rendering it able to use as an improvised weapon. All Fomn emerge from their sacs as small, pale and genderless creatures. Left in isolation, they will mostly grow to infertile forms roughly five to seven foot high, with a lifespan measured in centuries. In communities, however, they develop through a form of enforced puberty – known as atharrachadh – that drives them towards a particular caste. There appear to be dozens of these; but the most commonly-encountered by humanity are warriors, psykers known as (cailleach) and the 'daemon-speakers' (or dirach).

 

 

Lacking external ears – indeed, with few distinguishable facial features of any type save their conical snout, bristling with grubby, short, sharp teeth – the Fomn possess a honeycomb-like internal ear that grants them excellent navigational abilities undewater, or in poor visibility. This partially explains their prediliction for, and expertise in, fighting at dusk or in mist and fog.

 

Emitting an unpleasant scent of corruption somewhere between swamp water and musk, their most distinctive physical characteristic of all Fomn is their baleful single eye. Lacking binocular vision, their depth perception is poor, a weakness partly, though no completely offset by their ability to peer beyond the physical and into the immaterium. 

 

How this is achieved is unknown. It is a feature that has long intrigued the Imperium at large, discussed in everything from learned debate to folk tales of 'beasts with the evil eye' across the galaxy. The few specimens that have been captured demonstrate no obvious physical attribute of their optical or other sensory organ that would allow the ability; and while many of the Fomn castes demonstrate prodigious psychic ability, that is not a quality that extends across the warrior caste. 

 

Glossy and black, the fimir's suildluith has obvious similarities to the Warp-eye of homo navigo – the Navigators – and the Fomn are similarly rumoured to be able to strike down those who meet their gaze. A few patchy reports seems to corroborate this, but more common is a general sense of malaise and unease on those who find themselves in close contact with Fomn. Their common low gothic names often reflect this. They are variously known as witcheyes, bascilix, soulhunters and hundreds more variants across the Imperium at large.

 

 

Most Fomn are male, with meargh females appearing vanishingly rarely. Larger, stronger and more intelligent than the males, meargh usually rise to positions of power through physical and psychic dominance of their kin. The apparent paucity of females has led to many human cultures telling tales of Fomn raiders spiriting women away to produce more Fomn through magical or sorcerous means – but this is without any basis in empirical fact; and more likely shines a mirror to the raiding practises and prejudices of human cultures in which such tales arise. 

 

Like spiders or toads, Mearghs produce vast sacks of offspring that are intermittently fertilised by dominant males. There is no doubt that Fomn take captives, but such fanciful notions as magical impregnation are founded only in myth: Fomn invariably eat their prey.

 

+++

 

+ Fomn technology +

Fomn technology appears crude and ritualistic; but this belies its puissance. As with all aspects of their foul culture, the Fomn's wargear is closely bound to the warp. The symbols and markings frequently serve a warding role, guiding and channelling direct transference of conventional energy in a manner equivalent to Imperial or orkoid field technology; simply using the warp itself in place of technomantic solutions such as electromagnetism. In bare terms of function, Fomn weaponry is unsophisticated and ineffective; but this is overcome through their successful yoking of sorcerous warp-binding.

 

 

Fomn warrior armour is distinctive, frequently made from crude metals and stone, giving it a primeval appearance. Outwardly cumbersome and awkward, it is rarely form-fitting; instead restricted to protecting the head and bellies – which are culturally important; symbolising prosperity and dominance. The surface of the armour is invariably covered in eye-watering symbols picked out through inscription and highlighted with precious stones. These frequently evoke the suildluith of the Fomn, being picked out to look like open, staring eyes. It is yet another reason why many Imperial worlds dread the Fomn – even comparatively sophisticated Imperial societies associate the single staring eye with the arch-Traitor Horus and the traitor legions, and the appearance of such large monsters provokes a particular dread amongst the faithful.

 

 

Fomn blast pistols – or bataborradh – are heavy, brutal weapons that discharge high intensity laser energy. Swift-firing but short-ranged, these weapons rely on saturation of fire rather than accuracy.

 

 

Fomn favour close-in fighting, utilising brutally effective chain-weapon analogues to spread fear and terror. As with their armour, their weapons are often ritually decorated in order to enhance their already formidable physical abilities. 

 

 

Gaudy and primal it may appear, but Fomn armour is nevertheless highly effective. It resonates a low charge that not only protects them from psychic attack, but also wards off small arms and offers some protection against heavier weaponry.

 

Fomn armour does incorporate some concessions to atmospheric adaptation; the pict-capture above shows both the rebreather device built into the backplate and the incorporated communications array in the helm. Such technology is believed to be considered another element in the overall composition of the ritualistic decoration, and thus functional elements will follow the same alien aesthetic as the rest of the Fomn's technology. The crest on the helm here is an example; the shape concealing a shortband comms-mitter/ceiver.

 

+++

 

+ Visitation fleets +

As far as can be ascertained, the Fomn maintain no connected empire; rather being a disparate species that temporarily occupies small, isolated worlds in wilderness space. The majority of such planets are deep in warpstorm-touched areas, hidden and protected from other species. Such worlds as they do colonise are swiftly polluted by their presence, invariably becoming mire-covered swampworlds, fizzing with corruption, as the Fomn raise fell monoliths and steles to their vast pantheon of gods.

 

Contact with humanity is rare and intermittent, with centuries or even Millennia passing without sightings of their Visitation fleets. These powerful armadas, made up of many dozens of vast dish-shaped craft, ply the hidden depths of wilderness space. While their motives are largely mysterious, it is suspected that their movements are driven by warp tides; populations abandoning worlds as the warp ebbs, and moving to invade and capture new holdings where the veil between the material and immaterial thins.

 

Fomn are superlative navigators, their biology well-suited and technology geared towards swift and silent movement across the galaxy.

 

+ Primary visitation fleet tracking M34–M36 +

 

Visitation fleets will descend upon planets with little warning; the warriors inside boiling out to swiftly overwhelm the inhabitants. Fomn use their method of arrival to disrupt planetary defences, translating from warp within the heliosphere of a star, then 'skipping' the warp to within a planet's outer atmosphere. The dish-shape of the craft thus becomes a form of weapon, with disruption caused both to planetary weather patterns and the warp signature of the planet. 

 

The physical result is to send scouring rains, boiling weatherfronts of mist, duststorms and other sensor-fogging atmospheric effects roiling across their points of landing; while the spiritual consequence of the warp disturbance is to fill the defenders with deep uncertainty and fear. The disruption that goes in front of the Fomn is thus both wide-ranging and profound, making them a considerably greater threat than their comparatively low tech-level would suggest. That they also make use of daemons and warp-magick further increases their capabilities.

 

This method of invasion, along with their swift deployment, is utterly reliant on their incomparably precise navigation through the immaterium. No other species comes close to their precision in galactic movement, which is part of what makes them so infuriatingly difficult to bring to battle – they are simply able to avoid or withdraw contact.

 

 

Despite these strengths, Fomn seemingly shy from conflict with advanced groups wherever possible, preferring to prey on backward or lightly-defended worlds. Since their objectives seem to be harvesting provisions – that it, livestock – or colonisation near worlds that are falling into heavier warpstorms, the Imperium finds countering such attacks difficult. 

 

 

Where the Fomn can be brought to battle, they are a strong but not insurmountable foe. A typical guard outpost or properly-manned Imperial bastion will have sufficient firepower to drive off feinting attacks, and Fomn will usually withdraw before daylight-equivalent cycles, where their protective mists dissipate and poor day-vision renders them still worse at ranged combat.

 

+++

+ The Nova Terra Interregnum +

The disruption caused by the Nova Terra Interregnum meant that reports of Fomn activity – always patchy and unreliable owing to their unfamiliarity – lost all cohesion. It is believed that Fomn vessels took advantage of the galactic disruption to increase their attacks on Imperial shipping; a behaviour that had been hitherto unknown or unreported.

 

The Fomn showed no differentiation between attacks on Nova Terran or Old Imperial shipping, indicating their motives were purely selfish.

 

+ The Fomn during the Alien Wars +

The precise connection or relationship between the Fomn and Navigators – if there is one – is utterly mysterious. Even the Inquisition tread lightly around the wickedly powerful Navigator houses, and the few investigators that have dared to broach the subject have been immediately stonewalled. Imperial history records that they, along with a number of other human subspecies and abhumans, appear to have been artificially created in some way during the Dark Age of Technology; but the Navigators themselves admit nothing about their origins.

 

The Alien Wars, however, did throw some light on the relationship. In late M35, the Navigator House of Ghi – a so-called 'shrouded' or 'beggar' house, had been making a number of seemingly ruinous betrothals outside of the House to many different Navigator Houses; a practise that would have seen them die out entirely in two or three generations. A low-ranking unidentified Navigator, perhaps an ally or scion of Ghi, began to make a series of cryptic reports to the Ordo Xenos Inquisitor Moad Ben Djagal. 

 

He was killed by unknown assailants before these could be transmitted in full, but the decrypted results bore an unmistakable trace to a little known-world deep in the minor warpstorm Phlegethon. It was discovered that the world had contained a substantial proportion of the House of Ghi's holdings in a subterranean complex; and that they had been in regular contact with the Fomn. Upon further investigation, an entire manufactorum bearing hallmarks of the Fomn was discovered producing a fatal nerve-toxin effective only against homo navigo; keyed to activate only in two generations time. Realising the implications, Inquisitor Ben Djagal was able to bring the plot to the attention of the Paternoval Envoy, and a silent massacre was successfully avoided.

 

That the Fomn were heavily involved in a plot to destabilise or entirely wipe out numerous Navigatorial houses is an unavoidable conclusion. The question of why this might be, however, remains elusive.

 

 

+++

+ Post Script +

 

What conclusion can we draw from the Fomn? Such nebulous lessons as xenos can grant are valuable only through

negation: learning the shape of our foe through the space it should occupy. Here, it hints at conspiracy at the highest level. What do the Patriarchs and Matriarchs seek to shield from the wider Imperium?

 

I remain, at your service; Inquisitrix Barbari Kills.

 

 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good jpb on the Fomn warrior.

[Ryltar Thamior]

Excellent work updating the old-school Fimir ; the concept's definitely been brought forward, and expanded itself into something recognizably .. well .. itself, in the process. It's recognizable, and recognizably distinct. Whilst still keeping the 'feel' in all the right ways of much earlier editions. Painting and modelling's great as well. 

[Xin Ceithan]

Excellent work updating the old-school Fimir ; the concept's definitely been brought forward, and expanded itself into something recognizably .. well .. itself, in the process. It's recognizable, and recognizably distinct. Whilst still keeping the 'feel' in all the right ways of much earlier editions. Painting and modelling's great as well.

 

This. Definitely this!

Down to the lore, even, with a nice 40k feel.

[apologist]

Good jpb on the Fomn warrior.

Thanks – lovely to work on metal every once in a while. Lovely as modern plastics are, I really enjoy the peculiar challenges and opportunities of tin/lead.

 

Excellent work updating the old-school Fimir ; the concept's definitely been brought forward, and expanded itself into something recognizably .. well .. itself, in the process. It's recognizable, and recognizably distinct. Whilst still keeping the 'feel' in all the right ways of much earlier editions. Painting and modelling's great as well. 

Thanks for the kind words. Getting things to fit into the modern atmosphere without making them slot too neatly into place and getting reductive is a challenge. I want the Alien Wars to feel like an opening up of the setting and present new opportunities for people to dive in – whether that's in posting their own aliens and Nova Terran forces here, or simply giving them some ideas for gaming in their own place. :)

 

 

This. Definitely this!

Down to the lore, even, with a nice 40k feel.

Very kind! You, me and K0rdhal must get round to the Endworlds blog soon. :)

[apologist]

The army as it currently stands.

 

Coming up are the Terminators:

 

...and Squad Paulo, which will complete the infantry element of the inspiration:

[BadgersinHills]

Really cool article. :) I'd love to contribute to the Alien Wars, just got to figure out a fun project. :) :) 

[apologist]

Really cool article. I'd love to contribute to the Alien Wars, just got to figure out a fun project.

Would love to see what catches your eye. If it helps, here's a list of bits and bobs that we've looked at so far:

 

Xenos:

+ Anatomy of the Enemy I: Orks +

+ Anatomy of Empire I: The Charadon Ork Empire +

+ Anatomy of the Enemy II: Janii [guestpost: K0rdhal] +

+ Anatomy of the Enemy III: Eldar +

+ Anatomy of the Enemy IV: Saharduin +

+ Anatomy of the Enemy V: Goranhuwl's Guttaz +

+ Anatomy of the Enemy VI: Fomn +

 

Secessionists:

+ Origin of an Empire: The Nova Terran Imperium +

+ Anatomy of Empire II: The Nova Terran Imperium +

+ Anatomy of the Inquisition: Secessionists + 

 

Old Imperials:

+ Origin of an Empire: A Divided Mechanicus +

+ Origin of an Empire: The Ancient Imperium +

+ Anatomy of an Empire III: Stygies VII [guestpost DC147] +

+ Anatomy of an Empire IV: The Ancient Imperium +

+ Anatomy of the Inquisition: Terran Ascendants +

 

Astartes:

+ Anatomy of the Astartes I: Crimson Fists [guestpost: Bob Hunk] +

+ Anatomy of the Astartes II: Castigators [credit: Commissar Molotov] +

+ Anatomy of the Astartes III: Gatebreakers +

 

+++

 

...and if you're looking for something more specific to the time period, I'd love to see someone tackle the Halator Eldar, Nova Terran forces, or the Frateris Templar.

 

Most of all, though, I hope you just enjoy exploring the fascinating period of the Nova Terra Interregnum. It's a big galaxy!

Edited September 28, 2020 by apologist

[Sandlemad]

Whoa. I didn't know I wanted a reframing of the old fimir into 40k but seeing it done, and done in such a wonderfully creepy way, is a pleasant surprise. Brilliant stuff. The incorporation of the mists, the retention of their character as a distinctly minor power, the history/folklore of imperial views of the species, all are great. Darkly linking them to the navigators though is very sly indeed.